The present disclosure relates to mainframe computer imaging, and more specifically, to dynamic multi-level imaging.
As the enterprise grows, computing requirements also may also grow, which often require quick development and deployment of applications, middleware, and/or operating systems installed on client computing systems. Client-side computing problems often originate from the installation of new applications, middleware, when client-side (e.g. enterprise) computing problems arise, it is the job of client facing service and development teams often tasked with bringing the client computing system back to a normal operating condition.
The information technology (IT) team of the mainframe computing platform is often responsible for fixing the client-side computing problem. The IT team is often tasked with determining the problem on the client system, developing a solution, validating the solution, and deploying a validated fix on the client platform that brings the client system back to operable condition. That technical team may be divided into various task groups that handle aspects of the resolution. For example, the teams are often divided into a development team and a service team. On the development side, the development team, after receiving a request to investigate and resolve client computing problems, will coordinate with a service (deployment) team to develop the solution to the client problem.
The work can be divided in various ways. For example, it may be the development team tasked with determining (identifying) what the technical problem is on the client computing platform, and developing a solution for the diagnosed problem. One step in diagnosing or determining the source of the issue is recreation of the exact computing environment on the client side, so that the source of the computing problem can be identified in a controlled environment. Once the client system is re-created from an image of the client's computing platform, the source of the problem is then identified, and a solution is developed. Once a solution is determined, the development team then forwards the fix to the service team, who then re-creates the client-side computing environment a second time to validate the solution. After validation, the solution the service team installs the client platform. Many of the system re-creation steps are often duplicated by various teams working on the solution.